Why Siddhant Chaturvedi isn’t copying SRK in ‘Gehraiyaan’

With Gehraiyaan, the actor is turning his back on stereotypes, leaning into ‘real’ narratives, and letting director Shakun Batra’s collaborative process strengthen his craft

When actor Siddhant Chaturvedi began to get into the skin of Zain, the character he plays in director Shakun Batra’s Gehraiyaan, he automatically gravitated towards the stereotypes that Bollywood peddles about love. “I started by writing notes in a diary as Zain, and most of them were rejected by Shakun. That’s when I realised that having grown up on a diet of Bollywood romantic films [most of them starring Shah Rukh Khan], I was conditioned to see romance in a certain way.” As the process continued, Chaturvedi unlearned all that he knew about love and its depictions. “He [director Batra] made me see beyond all the gloss and glamour. He showed me a mirror which was so human, intimate and nuanced.”

The Hindu Weekend spoke with the 26-year-old via Zoom just as the film’s promotions were starting and he was still looking for the right words to describe the film. “It’s a relationship drama, but unlike anything you’ve seen before. We called it domestic noir for the longest time and didn’t even have a title until much later because it’s so new and fresh.”

Gehraiyaan, a Dharma Production that also stars Deepika Padukone and Ananya Pandey, is Chaturvedi’s third film. The actor had a dream debut of sorts in Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy (2019) as MC Sher — who helped Ranveer Singh’s Murad channel his angst and achieve his dream of a career in hip-hop.